Page 105 of In My Hockey Era
Exhausted.
Dark circles under his eyes.Tension in his shoulders.A stern expression.
And when his gaze meets mine, there’s no cocky grin, no teasing remark.Just… him.
I inhale sharply, gripping the leash a little tighter.
“What are you doing here?”I ask, my voice more defensive than I mean it to be.
Bennett shrugs, gaze flicking down to the dog at my feet before coming back to me.“Walking a dog, apparently.”
I glance past him, and sure enough, there’s another volunteer handing him a leash, attaching it to a large German shepherd mix.The sight of it almost makes me laugh.Big, tough hockey player in his expensive joggers, signing up to do community service with a bunch of shelter dogs.
I exhale slowly, shaking my head.“You just randomly decided to show up here?”
His jaw shifts.“Figured I’d do something useful today.”
I study him for a moment, something tugging deep in my chest.
I believe him.I wasn’t scheduled to be here either.I guess we’re more similar than I want to admit sometimes.
It’s been days since I’ve seen him up close, days since I’ve let myself be near him without anger clouding my vision.And now that I am?
I hate how much I missed him.
Still, I hesitate.
This was my safe space.My place to breathe.
I should tell him to leave.I should tell him I don’t want him here.
But I don’t.
Instead, I nod toward the gate.“Come on.”
I don’t wait for him to follow.
He does anyway.
We walk in silence down the quiet sidewalk that leads to the park behind the shelter, the morning cool but bright, the crunch of gravel beneath our feet the only sound between us.His dog lopes happily beside him, my golden sticking close to my side.
It’s weird, this silence.
We don’t do silence.
But somehow, it feels like the only thing we’re capable of right now.
It’s not until we reach the clearing that I finally speak.
“You look like hell,” I say, staring straight ahead.
Bennett lets out a low chuckle.“Yeah, well.It’s been a long week.”
I nod, my throat tightening.
It’s the end of the season.He’ll play his final game this week, and since the Stampede missed out on the playoffs, soon he won’t have the distraction of hockey to keep him busy.I wonder how he feels about that.But I don’t ask him, not yet anyway.
For a moment, neither of us says anything.
